discovering life - year one
by suzannahblack
Summary: this is the story of suzannah black...follow her tale as she uncover truths about her heritage, makes friends for the first time and falls in love during her memorable years at hogwarts. i only have a basic outline for the plot as of now..please feel free to post in your opinions..
1. the hidden world

Discovering life...

By Suzannah black

Chapter 1: the birthday.

Far away in an inaccessible part of the world, away from the prying eyes of curious humans stool a huge, stone fort. The tall stone walls were lightly lines with moss, showing very subtle signs of age. Through the main gate was the large expanse of land devoted to a beautiful garden, decorated with small fountains and flowers of every kind; across the lawn stood a beautiful stone castle. Somewhere inside the castle in a luxurious suite's sitting area, a girl was sitting on a sofa in front of the fire, reading a book. The girl had long raven black wavy hair that almost reached her waist. She had a very pale complexion, unnaturally so.

The girl's name was Suzannah black.

Suzannah lived in the corvinous academy of advanced magicks with her uncle and aunt. Lord Marcus corvinous was the headmaster of the academy well known throughout the magical world as the best institute for advanced researches and studies of obscure branches of magic. His wife, lady Claudia corvinous was a well known scholar of the mind arts. She specialised on the art of ambient magicks. Suzannah was eagerly waiting for her 11th birthday which was less than 24 hours away. It was on that day the she would finally get her Hogwarts letter. In spite of the excitement of going to her father's old school, she was very nervous about leaving home for 10 months straight. It was an unsaid fact the she would not be able to return home during the Christmas vacations.

Claudia had been trying to cheer her niece since past week. It was seven days ago on the breakfast table that Suzannah had suddenly realised that she would be away from home for 10 months straight.

Don't misunderstand her, she was not dreading homesickness. She had attended a boarding school in India since she was 5 years old. She was dreading the unfamiliarity of the country. She had never been to Britain; the idea of spending the majority of her time in a previously unexplored territory was thoroughly unnerving to her. Marcus' absence was another negative factor. If there is one person on the planet that could convince Suzannah of anything, it was Marcus. He knew his niece inside out like the back of his hand.

Sitting on the sofa in her suite's sitting area, blankly staring at the herbology book she had taken from the library the previous day, Suzannah was planning emergency exits for every situation since the past one hour. She was pulled out of her musing by her private house elf Nancy, who had just apparated in front of her.

"Mistress Corvinous is calling young mistress for dinner." Nancy chirped in her light pitched voice. "She is telling young mistress to quickly come; Nancy is to take mistress to mistress."

Closing her book and glancing at the large grandfather's clock on her side, Suzannah yawned lightly. Turning to her elf, she said, "I'll be there shortly."

Then she stood up and stretched her muscles, put on her slippers and left her quarters for having dinner with her aunt. On reaching the dining hall, she spotted her aunt arranging presents in one side of the huge dining table. Claudia was a beautiful woman who looked to be in her early thirties. She married Marcus around five years ago. She had long chocolate brown straight hair that went well past her shoulders. Her light brown eyes were currently focusing on the huge pile of gifts, her hands moving accordingly in order to make sure that the packets do not fall off the pile.

She turned around to see her niece had already taken her seat. She was still wearing that very serious expression on her face. Sighing, she took her seat across the table, directly facing Suzannah.

"Still having second thoughts? You know you don't have to go if you don't want to go." Claudia said, picking p her goblet to drink some water.

"It's just that it is an entirely new territory. I want to go to Hogwarts. I want to connect with my parents' past. It's just that I'll be all alone there. Miera is going to gurukul tomorrow. And I cont even mail her for the next 2 years. She told me that younger students were not allowed to interact with outside world. And then it'll be 10 months before I get to see you and Marcus again." Suzannah replied. After her mini speech, she was feeling much lighter.

She looked at Claudia, who was still holding her goblet near her lips, and said," dia, when would marc return?"

By then, the elves had served dinner to both the ladies.

"He should be back by next week. But I am not sure. This year's conference might take longer than usual to wrap up." Claudia replied.

"I see." Suzannah resumed eating.

They silently finished their meal in the next 15 minutes. Finally, breaking the silence, Claudia pointed towards the gifts pile and said, "It looks like the entire staff of the academy and all your schoolmates have outdone themselves with birthday presents this year. I have already stored the sweets and other eatable for your school trip. There is a large collection of muggle clothes, master harlord has apparently crafted you a wand holster. It's a piece of art I must say. I think that tome on magical herbs is from Miss Cortnis. And the rest are general books of magical theories and history."

Suzannah was browsing through her birthday gifts. Her dark grey eyes were brimming with excitement as she tore open a box and took out brand new wand holster. It was made up goblin silver. The entire body was etched with various runes that decorated the masterpiece along with supplying it power. She quickly wore it on her right arm and attached her wand to it. The whole apparatus glowed for a while and then returned to its former state, now resized to fit suzannah's arm perfectly.

"Wicked! I will finally be able to give Marcus a run for his money in our usual duels." Suzannah said excitedly.

"As if! You are a novice at best when it comes to duelling. Marcus doesn't have to raise his wand to beat you. Claudia scoffed at her niece's statement.

"Whatever! A girl can dream." Suzannah continued the drama.

"Yeah right!" Claudia shook her head. Suzannah rolled her eyes at that. It was these small healthy spats with her aunt that restored some semblance of normalcy to her life. Otherwise, with the tight schedule of classes' day in and day out, Suzannah practically led the life of a timed puppet. The clock ruled her life. Her uncle, lord Marcus corvinous had hired tutors for his darling niece for every subject ranging from muggle sciences to etiquette to history to potions. He himself tutored her in the art of duelling. Suzannah had a keen interest in alchemy and wandlore. The professors in the academy tutored her in charms, transfiguration, basics of healing, potions and the wizarding laws and customs. Suzannah was a gifted child, in most senses to the word. She was the daughter of Sirius black, who was the scion of the most ancient and noble house of black and Sophia black nee riddle, the only daughter of tom marvolo riddle, best known as lord voldemort and Miriam corvinous, the previous head of the house of corvinous.

Marcus corvinous was the lord of the house of corvinous ever since the death of his mother, Lady Miriam around 32 years ago. He was part vampire and part werewolf, the direct descendent of godric Gryffindor and Rowena ravenclaw. Suzannah was seven years old when she nearly died from falling off a cliff into the sea. Marcus gave her his blood to save her life and thus named her his heir by default.

After finishing their dinner, the two ladies parted ways. Claudia went to the staff room for the staff meeting while Suzannah checked her packing for the 5th time since the last week. She opened the remaining presents that were transferred to her rooms and was pleased to find that apart from the wand holster, she had also received some of the books that she had been itching to read since the past year. The huge book on magical herbs and fungi was the encyclopaedia of all the magical plants. There were so many muggle and magical clothes in the gifts that she had to repack her trunk after expanding it to twice its original size to stuff them all inside. She was not taking any chances with Hogwarts.

It took her 2 very long hours to finish opening and arranging the bigger packages. After that, her attention shifted to the smaller and more fragile looking packets. Suzannah had learned it a long time ago that size of the gift could never tell you about its usefulness. She picked up a small silver wrapped box that was too small to hold anything bigger than a ring and as expected, the box housed the most beautiful onyx ring that Suzannah had ever laid eyes on. And mind, having grown up as a princess and niece to Claudia, who was very partial to jewellery, Suzannah had seen and enjoyed access to quite a lot of beautiful rings. This ring however was brimming with magic. The ring was made of goblin gold hand crafted by wizards. The large onyx stone was set on it had beautiful carvings that glittered in gold light. Below the ring, there was a small note.

_My dear princess,_

_Many many happy returns of the day. Please accept my apologies for my absence from your birthday. The conference in India will at least until November to be over. That means I won't be able to see you off to Hogwarts._

_This is a very special ring Suzie. As long as you wear it on your right ring finger, you will never lose your way in any territory. No matter how heavily it is warded. I know about your apprehension regarding going to Hogwarts. Hopefully this little ring will ease up your worries._

_I'll write to you as often as I can. But you already know that it will never be as often as any of us would like. But there is nothing stopping you from writing to me. So I better get at least one letter from you every week._

_Take care,_

_Marcus._

Suzannah slipped the ring in the correct finger. The ring resized itself to fit around her finger perfectly. Smiling, she resumed opening her gifts. By the time she was finished, the shelves in her room and the desk were full of little trinkets and sweets. Her walk in closet was overflowing with clothes, both wizard and muggle. She had to transfer all her stuff to a bigger trunk as the former trunk could not hold all the stuff. Her new trunk had seven large compartments, specially designed for holding clothes, shoes, bags and accessories, potion ingredients, magical instruments, books, parchment and quills and other miscellaneous stuff respectively. It was well past midnight when she finished repacking. She changed into her night clothes and went to bed. Tomorrow would be a long day.

The next morning Suzannah was roused from her peaceful slumber by Nancy the elf who was carrying a tray of fruits and a glass of fresh lemonade.

"Nancy wishes young mistress a very happy birthday." The elf bowed and after setting the morning snacks on the table, vanished with a small 'pop'.

Suzannah stretched in her bed and checked the time in the table clock on her bedside table. It was 5 am sharp. Smiling at her elf's efficiency, she hopped out of bed and went to the bathroom for her morning rituals. She came out 15 minutes later, fully awake and completely clean. She ate her fruits in silence and then drank her lemonade. At 5.30 am, Suzannah made her way to the castle's gym and began her daily workout. After 2 hours of training exercises, Suzannah returned to her rooms and got ready.

After a quiet breakfast, she went to the library where Claudia was waiting for her. She found her aunt in the very back of the library, effectively hidden from direct line of sight by the rows and lines of books and tomes, some of which were long thought lost to time.

Claudia was sitting on a sofa, reading a large book. Glancing up from her reading, she smiled at her niece and gestured her to take a seat beside her. Suzannah obliged and took the offered seat, without a word.

"I received a message from the headmaster. He says that the school will start on 1st of September. You will be leaving via portkey tonight. It will take you straight to a cottage Marcus has rented in the diagon alley. Nancy will accompany you and stay there till the end of the holidays. I have set up a vault in your name in gringotts. The money should suffice for the year. You will receive your Hogwarts letter and the list of required supplies in the coming week. Should I trust you to buy all the required equipment responsibly and take care of yourself?"

Suzannah continued staring at her aunt for a complete minute before replying. "I think so. Marcus gifted me this ring that will help me find my way around the alley. And I will have Nancy with me. So I should be fine. Plus it's not like I'll be going anywhere outside the alley."

"True. But you have to promise me that you'll not venture into the muggle world. You may visit and adjoining magical sites but no muggle London till 1st of September." Claudia said. Then, her expression softened, "Suzie you have to understand that I don't want you to get in any trouble, especially when I won't be there to help you out. You know I desperately wanted to come with you. But the fort will need strict supervision this month, what with entrance tests starting for the upcoming session next week. Please promise me you'll write to me at least once a week. It'll keep me sane. Please." Her eyes help a pleading look Suzannah had never witnessed before.

"Of course aunt, I'll be good, promise." Smiling, she hugged her aunt with all the affection she had.


	2. inheritence

**Chapter 2: inheritance**

Suzannah portkeyed to her new home for the summer the same night. The apartment Marcus had 'rented' (it was another one of the unsaid facts that lord corvinous never rented things, he bought them) was a cosy 3 bedroom flat over a large shop that hadn't been in use since quite some time. Nancy had immediately got to work, arranging Susannah's things in the largest bedroom, her own bundle of articles in a large cupboard in the kitchen and then preparing Susannah's bed for her to retire for the night.

Suzannah's room was quite small compared to her previous quarters. It had a queen sized bed in the centre, rosewood desk on one side and a 4-doored almirah on the other side. There was a small book rack opposite to the wall. It had some issues for the daily prophet, witch weekly and the which broomstick. It was evident that Marcus had spent a significant amount of time here to make it comfortable for Suzannah.

Suzannah, tired and sleepy as she was, quickly changed into her nightclothes and went to bed. Sleep claimed her as soon as she hit the pillow.

The next morning saw Suzannah venture into the diagon alley for the first time in her life. As soon as she stepped out of her building into the alley, her onyx ring pulsed and she gained an uncanny awareness about all the tracks and paths around the magical shopping area. She instinctively knew the way around the alley. Stoking her ring with her other hand, she murmured to herself, 'I now understand what Marcus told me about the ring in his letter.'

Without missing a beat, she confidently made her way to Gringotts bank for wizards. On her way, she was impressed, and dare she admit it, a little intimidated by the crowd that was passing her. There were so many people around, all going on about their own business, without so much as a second glance towards her. Suzannah was used to the secluded and quite surroundings of her fort. Most of the people she had come across had always paid her due attention, be it her uncle or aunt, her tutors, or even her peers. The crowd in the alley was overwhelming her, although to any other ordinary regular visitor, the alley would seem in its moderate state. Still engrossed in her musings 15 minutes later, Suzannah found herself on the doorstep of the bank. Her nervousness was soon transformed into awe and wonder as she looked at the solid gold and silver doors that led you to the bank. The interiors were even more awe inspiring. The large hall was lined with high desks where goblins were busy with various jobs. A few were weighing precious stones while others were arranging piles of muggle money and galleons.

Suzannah took a few minutes to regain her cool self assured composure and approached a goblin that looked like a teller. Using her most formal and polite tone, she addresse3d the goblin.

"Excuse me sir, my name is Suzannah corvinous black. My uncle Marcus had recently set up a vault for me in your bank branch. I was told to approach a teller to access my vault. Would you please assist me?"

The goblin looked up from his pares and looked at the small girl for a few moments. Then resting his quill and papers on his desk, he said, "very well. You will have to participate in an identification test in order to prove that you are who you claim to be. We at Gringotts take the security of our clients' assets very seriously. Accompany me to the director's office for the test." The goblin got off his chair and led the way, without so much as a glance towards Suzannah.

Well aware of the goblin nature (she had taken lessons on various magical races, of course), she followed the teller quietly.

Director Ragnok's dark office was a stark contrast to the light ambience and clinking sounds of the outer hall. The room was very spacious for an office. Here, the walls were lined with a lot of weapons, swords, spears, hunters, knives etc. In the middle of the front wall sat a majestic desk behind which sat the goblin king, ragnok. Ragnok's was going through some long rolls of parchment. His large earthy eyes were slightly squinting as he read the papers through some knid of a magnifying glass.

As they stepped inside the office, the goblin king looked up from his papers at6 them. Dismissed the teller accompanying Suzannah with a slight tilt of his head, he gestured the awestruck girl to a chair opposite to his, across the desk.

"lord corvinous had given strict instructions that anyone claiming to be his niece has to go through an inheritance ritual before they are informed about the current status of the said vault ar allowed admission to it." Suzannah nodded. The way ragnok's was eyeing her reminded her strongly of the times she had spent in the headmasters office back in her old school, mostly after she got caught participating in some mischief.

Ragnok's placed a large crystal basin in front of her, along with a long roll of empty parchment. He filled the empty basin with a brown potion and then dipped the parchment inside. Handing over a small silver knife to Suzannah, he said, "Allow 7 drops of your blood to fall in this basin. The potion will discern your bloodline and your true identity. We may also learn if you have inherited any other family names and fortunes."

Suzannah pricked her little finger with the knife and allowed the required amount of blood to fall in the potion before pressing the small wound with her other hand so as to stop any further bleeding. As soon as the 7th drop made contact with the potion's surface, the colour of the potion changed, first to bright yellow, then blue and finally it rested after several fluctuations on violet. Ragnok carefully pulled out the parchment from the potion. Surprisingly, the potion did not dissolve the paper into it. He read the paper once and handed it over to the little girl sitting before him, without betraying any emotion on his face.

Suzannah nervously accepted the offered parchment and read it. Her eyes widened the moment she reached the second section.

_**Suzannah Miriam Merope Corvinous Riddle Black**_

_**Date of Birth: July 07, 1980**_

_Father's Name: Sirius Orion Black_

_Mother's Name: Sophia Merope Black nee Riddle_

_**INHERITANCE**_

_Heiress to the Most Ancient and Noble House of Black – by blood_

_Heiress to the Royal House of Corvinous – by magic_

_Heiress to the House of Godric Gryffindor – by magic via House of Corvinous_

_Heiress to the House of Rowena Ravenclaw – by magic via House of Corvinous_

_Heiress to the House of Salazar Slytherin – by blood_

_Heiress to the House of Peverell – by blood_

_**MAFICAL ABILITIES**_

_Parseltongue_

_Occlumency_

_Legilimency_

_**Magical core index: 463/700 – 66.12% matured**_

_**Intelligence Quotient: 143/100.**_

She read the document several times. This can't be right. She had already known that she would inherit the black family fortune someday. And Marcus had once explained her that unless she forwards the title to his future children willingly, she would be the scion of corvinous house as well. But, the rest of the names on the list were quite a lot for her to understand. She slowly looked up from the paper and found ragnok's regarding her quietly. Mustering all her manners and self control, she said, "I understand the presence of the corvinous and black family names here. But would you please explain the other ones?"

"Apparently, miss ...black, lord corvinous is also a descendent from the Gryffindor and Ravenclaw lines. And the late lady black, had inherited the Slytherin and Peverell lines from her father. Since neither she, nor you maternal grandfather has any records in our archive, I merely say this on the basis of speculation. As I am fairly certain that lord black did not inherit Slytherin or Peverell lines after his mother's deaths 5 years ago. Also, since lord black is currently serving sentence and there you are the sole heiress to Slytherin, you enjoy full access to both the black family vault and the Slytherin vault along with your trust vault."

"Please address me as miss riddle. I prefer my mother's maiden name over my father's family name." Suzannah replied in a grave and calculating tone. "I would like to visit my vaults and I would appreciate it a lot if I could meet you tomorrow in order to settle any remaining concerns regarding my account. The information I have learned today will take at least a day to sink in. I hope you understand."

"That should be easily manageable." Ragnok rang a bell and immediately a goblin entered the room to escort Suzannah to her vaults. Suzannah visited her vaults for the first time in a daze. She filled her money bag with galleons from her trust vault, took a stroll each though her other 2 vaults, without withdrawing anything and returned to the over ground level 2 hours later. She quickly instructed her family vault manager to withdraw the right from anyone but herself to visit the vaults. On her way back, she decided to spend her day outdoors, exploring the alley. She quickly summoned Nancy and instructed her to not cook any lunch for her that day and made her way into the first shop that caught her attention. The shop's name was _"OBSCURUS BOOKS"_. The shop's exterior was quite rickety. It was clear from the looks of it the shop was sparingly visited by the British magical folk.

Standing outside the shop, Suzannah briefly wondered what Claudia would say if she learned that she was going in a dangerous looking place for mere excitement. Most probably, she would ground her for the rest of the summer. 'Oh well, she is not here anyway. What the mind doesn't know, the heart doesn't grieve over.' Taking a deep breath and grinning with excitement, she pushed open the door of the shop. For once, Suzannah black was behaving like a normal child, a normal 11 year old.

The shop seemed to be empty at first look. Suzannah stepped inside the shop and her ring immediately activated. She learned that just like her apartment, this shop also had a flat over it. The shop was in poor condition. But it was fairly clean and well kept. The walls were lined with long and high book cases. Just like the library in her fort, the book casa were arranged according to the subjects of the books. She casually began browsing through the tomes. The books were fairly old and did the shop's name justice. Some of the tomes were quite rare and advanced. Within 5 minutes, she was so thoroughly taken by the collection of books, that she didn't notice a tall and dark old man enter the shop through the stairs from the flat.

"You will regret it if you even think about shoplifting." He said in gruff voice that startled Suzannah so much that she almost dropped the heavy tome she was clutching in her hands.

She turned around to face the man who was threatening her. The man was in his mid 70s. His grey-white hair was tied at the back in a small ponytail. He had a very well built body for his age, and stood at an impressive 6 feet. His piercing blue eyes were scrutinising her.

"I am sorry if I caused you any inconvenience. It was definitely not my intention. I was merely looking through these books and deciding which ones I would like to buy today and which ones I'd consider later." She said in a low tone. It was evident that the old man's warning had put her on her guard. Her eyes were quickly darting from one spot to another and her mind was forming escape plans and routes for every probable situation.

The man eyed her for another minute quietly before pointing towards a wooden chair, gesturing her to sit. He took the books Suzannah had shortlisted from the pile and kept them on his counter.

"And why does a little girl like you want books on mind arts and ancient magical languages?" Suzannah blushed and looked down. Her expression matched that of a very mischievous child who has been caught red handed.

"My aunt has promised to teach me occlumency and legilimency after my 1st year in Hogwarts. I thought that if I go thought the theory before the instructions begin, the practical lessons would be more fruitful." She didn't reveal her natural talent in those subjects for obvious reasons. And she didn't lie to the man as she felt that he had a right to know about her intentions regarding his books.

"And the tome on magical languages?" the man asked. His face didn't betray any ounce of emotion.

"Well, I personally find them a very interesting read. I recently learned about the existence of celic rune language and parseltongue's history for being used in healing." She promptly replied. Some of her nervousness was slowly leaving her and she was returning to her usual confident self. Her eyes were twinkling with innocence and excitement. The man's impassive facade seemed to fall as he permitted himself to smile lightly.

Kal Ogden was a very lonely old man. Ever since his wife's death 4 years ago, he had led a solitary life. What little friends he once had gradually distanced themselves from him. Some others that were still in touch with him via owl post were keeping busy. His book shop had been suffering because of his lost interest in anything and everything. There used to be a time when he was well known and appreciated for his knowledge and wise decision making skills. As is often expected from former Ravenclaws, his first love in life was books. His shop was once well known for housing the rare and obscure texts and tomes that would be hard to find elsewhere. Ever since Camilla's death, he had stopped travelling and collecting books. These days, his most common visitors were men from dark families, hoping to find some dark magic tome. Just yesterday he had received an owl from lucius malfoy asking him if he had gained possession of any new texts.

'Idiots, the lot of them. Inbred pig heads, think any and all rare tomes in existence are about dark magic.' He muttered under his breath as he made his way downstairs to clean his counter, only to find a small girl leafing through a book on ancient languages. A very interesting, stupid and innocent girl that somehow had managed to melt the walls of his heart in a few very short moments.


	3. a life on line

**Chapter 3: a life on line.**

Suzannah left Kal Ogden's shop in a very bad mood. She had tried to convince the old man that she could handle the advanced material in those books. She tried to convince him that her fluency in Latin was only second to her English. She tried, in vain to tell him that she knew the basic histories of all those magical languages she wanted to read. He didn't budge.

Kal practically pushed the protesting girl out of his shop. Finally giving up, she made her way back to her apartment. Once inside, she called Nancy who served her lunch (5 courses with 2 choices for salads and desserts).

"I swear Nancy; the world is full of evil old and selfish people. I mean, why couldn't that old man sell me those books and get it all over with? He had to rudely push me out! For a moment there, I was sure I saw him smile at me." Suzannah was ranting.

"But I am a princess. If I want something, I will get it, no matter what." She was muttering to herself by the end of her meal. Finishing her meal, she decided to get her letters to Claudia and Marcus out of her way before working on her "mission" to get those books from the "snarky old man". She asked Nancy to get he some parchment and a quill and settled herself comfortably in the sitting area of the house.

_Dear Uncle Marcus,_

_I hope this letter finds you in perfect health and awesome mood._

_I arrived at the flat in diagon alley yesterday post dinner via a portkey that headmaster had arranged for me. I found it quite odd that nobody was present to welcome me and help me get settled. But it was alright. Exploring the house was fun. _

_By the way, the ring you gifted me has been a huge help today. It helped me loads in finding my way around the alley and it even made me aware of the presence of the shopkeeper of a very ill kept book store. The man in question was equally ill tempered if not more. But that's alright. I had a lot of fun too._

_My visit to Gringotts was quite enlightening, if you know what I mean. It was very happy surprise when I discovered my inheritance results. And the contents of my trust vault were equally surprising. Seriously, why do you think I would need 100,000 galleons to survive a year in Hogwarts? So far as I know, the school supplies won't cost me more than 100 galleons. But I am not complaining. In fact, I might go shopping tomorrow and spend a substantial amount of gold. It shouldn't be that hard, right?_

_I will write to you again when I get my Hogwarts letter. I also wanted to ask you if I should buy another wand or not. Do reply. I miss you._

_Your wonderful niece,_

'_anna._

_Dear Aunt Claudia,_

_How are you? I am doing fine here. Before you wonder, I did write a letter to Marcus and will send with Nancy before I ask her to send yours. _

_The diagon alley is awesome! There are so many shops and so many people! It was a little scary at first. But later it was very interesting. I visited Gringotts and if you know your husband, you won't be surprised._

_I discovered a book shop that had very interesting old books. I found a tome on old magical languages and another one on mind arts. Tell me dear aunt, should I read ahead on mind arts before we start our lessons next year?_

_Do reply. I miss you._

_Your obedient niece,_

_Her royal highness, _

_Princess Suzannah Miriam Merope Corvinous Riddle Black._

Suzannah folded both the letters and kept them aside. She then used the remaining piece of parchment to make 2 envelopes. Her aunt had been a very strict instructor when she had taught her the correct method of letter writing. She handed over the two sealed envelopes to Nancy and instructed her to deliver them to her uncle and aunt. Nancy took the letters and popped away promptly.

Suzannah then cleared her work table and properly arranged the parchment, inkpot and quill on their proper places. Taking a deep breath, she changed her clothes into something more informal. She had earlier dressed in formal dress robes with her hair tied up in small bun. She had intended on leaving an impression on the goblins on her first meeting. Her plans were fulfilled.

She dressed in a loose dress robe that was both comfortable and inconspicuous. She would definitely blend in the crowd and nobody would notice the absence of an adult figure. She was about to leave for the second time when Nancy finally returned. She had successfully delivered the letters to Marcus and Claudia. On asking, she told Suzannah that Marcus somewhere in upper mountains of Himalayas these days. Claudia, on the other hand was busy preparing the fort for the upcoming session.

Glancing at the grandfather clock in the sitting room, she turned to Nancy and said, "I am going out. Its 3.40 now, I'll be back by 7. We shall have dinner an hour later. If I am not back by then, you should come and fetch me." Receiving a bow from the elf, she made her way out for the second time of the day.

Suzannah roamed across the alley all evening. She was quite tempted to buy herself a new wardrobe of acromantula silk dress robes from madam malkins, or a dozen books from flourish and blots, but that would just be a waste of money. She already had dozens of nice new dresses from her birthday cum farewell presents and she still had to finish reading her herbology book that she had gotten for her birthday, not to mention that there was her book on magical theory that she hadn't even started reading yet. Thinking of books, she was reminded of the morning. Steeling her resolve, she went back to the dusty old shop to confront the old shopkeeper and to make him sell her those tomes.

The streets were still buzzing about with activity. As she entered the shop, however, her mind was cleared of all or any smart comments that she was preparing on throwing at the man. Lying on the ground, in front of her was a shaking body of Kal Ogden. The old man was decidedly under the effects of some curse or poison. Dropping her hand bag, Suzannah rushed to his side and felt his pulse, it was very weak.

"oh no, please please please don't die on me! Stay there. I'll get you something." She pleaded to the man before rushing out of the shop to the nearest apothecary.

Banging a galleon on the counter, she demanded to buy a large bezoar stone from the man on the counter. The man quickly got her one, probably to get rid of the noisy kid sooner. Taking the stone and leaving the gold coin on the counter, she rushed back to the book shop and pushed the stone down kal's throat. After a few moment of strained breathing, his pulse reached a stable rate. Unfortunately, he had lost consciousness.

Releasing her breath she hadn't realised she was holding, Suzannah sat down crossed legged beside the unconscious shopkeeper and stared at him, as if expecting him to wake up anytime and push her out of the shop again.

Snapping out, the gravity of the situation finally realised itself on her. Panicking, she stood up and swiftly shut the entrance of the shop. She looked about frantically to catch anything that might clue her on the type of poison that was used on him. There were no signs of a duel, no struggle at all. It was as if the old man has manifested some poison in his system naturally. Or, she realised with dread, somebody had discreetly poisoned him, somebody who was clever enough to leave no noticeable marks.

She was no potions mistress, but extensive coaching on all things magic had left her with considerable knowledge of potions and poisons. Living in fort that was guarded by some of the most poisonous and vicious creatures had forced her aunt to train her exceptionally well in surviving poison exposure. Gaining her composure, she rechecked kal's pulse and after ensuring that he was in no mortal danger anymore, she summoned her courage and went to the counter.

She raided the drawers in search for some parchment and quill and got to work. She couldn't use magic to heal the man, the trace will be triggered and she would have to go through a lot of scrutiny. She couldn't sent him off to hospital, she wasn't supposed to know this man, and attempted murder cases area always complicated according to all the muggle novels she had read, and she had read a lot of them. By the time she made up her mind, her body was frantically moving about on its own, trying to vent off the fear and desperation. She hadn't realised it, but her eyes were flooding her face with a steady flow of tears.

That left her with only one option, as leaving the man to his fate was never up for consideration. She would have to treat him to enough health that he could go to the hospital on his own. And for that to happen, she would have to give him a proper antidote to whatever poison he was exposed to. Taking a deep breath, she summoned Nancy and set to work.

5 hours later- Kal Ogden's bedroom:

Suzannah finished her meal curled on the small chair. Nancy had served her dinner there itself. The elf had been a great help this evening. She didn't know she would have managed brewing the basic antidote for the old man in all her panic and stress, had it not been for the elf's assistance. The old man in question was till sleeping on his bed. Sighing, Suzannah got up from the chair and made her way downstairs. Luckily for her, she had managed to find a small book in the shop on healing charms and diagnosis. Nancy had been able to cast them with her elf magic and that had given her all the consolation she needed to feel confident that the man will survive.

She was currently sitting on a couch in the small and dirty sitting room with the same book when the flames turned green and a man stepped out of the floo, casually dusting off some of the ashes. Suzannah jumped out of her seat immediately and turned to face the man, her face betraying all the fear she felt.

The man in question was tall. He had black oily hair that was stuck at the back of his head. His nose was slightly crooked, as if broken. He smelled of potion lab. The man's name was Severus snape. He was one of the few people that still had any contact with old man Ogden, especially after the last war. Kal had helped him get over his guilt of joining the dark side and it was his and Camilla's never wavering support that finally got him to stop grieving the death of lily. They were like his foster parents. Although he couldn't really spend much time with Kal due to his 'Dumbledore' obligations, he made it a point to visit every time he had some spare time that didn't need accounting.

Mustering up her courage, she asked in a very level tone, "who are you?"

Severus turned to face the source of the sound. "Shouldn't I be the one asking that question, miss?" he replied in a very low and serious tone. His first guess was that this girl was a thief, but she was quite well dressed to be one, not to mention that the fact she didn't run away at the sight of him.

"I visited the snarky old man's shop this evening to buy a couple of books. To my surprise, I found him lying on the floor, shaking badly under the effects of a neurotoxin poison. It took me better part of 3 hours with the assistance of my elf to stabilise him and get him on his bed. He is still unconscious. So mi decided to stay for the night and that's it." Suzannah spilled it all out. She was scared and she had no reason to hide that. The man in front of her seemed to be the type who would not think twice before tying her and forcing out the truth if she lied.

Snape's whole expression changed. "Poisoned, you say?" he rushed inside the bedroom to check on his old friend. He waved his wand and cast a few diagnostic charms. Satisfied, he turned to Suzannah and asked, "What did you give him?"

"I first pushed a bezoar down his throat and when the pulse stabilised, I fed him some basic antidote. There wasn't enough time to brew the specific potion and nor did I have the correct instructions with me." Suzannah replied, now slightly relaxed. She reached into her pocket and drew out a vial of blood. Passing it to snape, she told him that this was the sample of the poisoned blood.

"I think you might find it useful for his later treatment." Then pausing for a second, she raised her eyebrows at him and asked, "You are not the one who poisoned him in the first place, are you?" she bit her lip.

"Had I been the said individual, you would have found yourself either tied to a chair, under torture, or dead." Severus replied. A queer smirk was finally plastered on his face. Suzannah visibly gulped.

"Then who are you?" she asked finally.

"My name is Professor Severus snape. I teach at Hogwarts school." he replied in a low voice.

"Severus snape? You mean _the _Severus snape? _You _are the youngest potions master in the past 4 centuries?" Suzannah asked, all fear forgotten, eyes wide with wonder.

Severus snape was impressed. He had been on a teaching post since almost 10 years now but never once a student had acknowledged him thus, not even in Slytherin. Although he may never admit it out loud, he liked this little girl sitting before him.

"Indeed. Not many people realise that fact. And what is your name?"

"My name is Suzannah riddle black. I prefer my middle name to my last though." Suzannah replied, colour rising on her cheeks.

"Black? Any relation to regulus black? He was good friend of mine."

"Haven't heard of him ever. I was 2 months old when my father saw me last. He has never been one of my favourite people on the planet." Suzannah replied easily. Then realising what she had said, she clapped her hand on her mouth and drew a sharp breath.

"It- it came out the wrong way! I-I meant -"she stuttered and glanced around. "I think I should leave. I should return home. Nancy!" she stood up and left without another glance.


End file.
